[original post removed]
I wish i could drop a pic in here!
- Master Sommelier Diploma Exam
This is till date hailed as the world’s toughest examination. The exam was first taken 40 years ago in the UK and since then only 200 candidates have been selected on the basis of this exam. The exam is divided into three sections, which are theory, service and blind tasting. Most of the students pass the first two sections and fail badly in the third one, and thus have to repeat that section again next year. The blind tasting section is tougher than one can imagine. Candidates not only have to identify the grape variant, but also the year and the region where it was grown. Even the most famous sommeliers in the world had passed this exam in the third or fourth attempt.
holy moly. have to ID the year + region grown? It almost sounds like they’re intentionally making sure the people they don’t like fail it.
Every finance and investment professional tries to attempt this test at least once in his lifetime.
So they don’t try to pass the test, and they don’t attempt the test, they _ try to attempt _ the test.
Hmmm.
I wonder why they used the Purina Dog Chow logo.
What about the (non-basic) actuarial exams or the medical licensing exams?
Guys!
If you google " hardest exam in the world" …The first thing that google tells you is :
- The Chartered Financial Analyst ( CFA ) exam – which has been dubbed Wall Street’s hardest test – sees less than a fifth of entrants pass on their first attempt. There are actually three separate exams (levels I, II and III), which must be passed in order.
- GOOGLE IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!! I’M STICKING WITH THE CFA AS THE HARDEST EXAM IN THE WORLD!!!
I’d like to think you’re being facetious.
There’s no way the CFA exams are the toughest in the world, sorry I’m just not buying it…they are tough, mainly due to sheer volume of material and having to study and sit them whilst working a full time job…but no way are they anywhere near the toughest exams in the world in the sense of difficultly of material. (caveat is that I am just about to sit L2 in June - however even if I don’t pass, I’m sticking to my guns)
Of course concepts in finance can get as complex and difficult as any other discipline, but the CFA skirts over lots of the complex stuff and keeps it “simplified” in return for just adding a massive volume of that simplified stuff.
This.
Even if we stay within the field, try picking up some quantitative finance papers to read for a reality check.
Actuarial exams are way harder. I was told by an actuary friend who took the CFA exams too that the Level 2 exam is like an Acutary level 4 exam. In actuarial world, there are like 7-10 level of them, NOT 3.
I say second hardest in Finance.
So they don’t try to pass the test, and they don’t attempt the test, they _ try to attempt _ the test.
Hmmm. [very funny, good point]
I wonder why they used the Purina Dog Chow logo. [bc the CFA is for Dogs of the Dow]
That blind tasting section sounds like BS to me, given that studies have repeatedly shown that even the most advanced palates can only reliably identify a few basic attributes of a wine, certainly not including the vintage (except absolutely great vintages maybe). So it sounds like all these Master Sommeliers just went to the test again and again until they passed this section through randomness 
where is your sense of humor???
I know someone who took and passed the actuarial exams and failed CFA level 1. He said the material on the actuarial exams was harder, but each test was more focused on specific areas. And I believe you can take each level every 6 months?
For a candidate well-versed in math and finance, I do think the actuarial exams are harder, but not by a huge margin. Now, obviously if you suck at math, actuarial exams will be 20x harder.
CFA stands for Country Fire Authority in Australia…
Everyone thinks I’m studying to become a firefighter when I say I’m preparing for the CFA exam.
Here it’s the Cat Fancier’s Association.
They had a show locally last year; I alerted the local society so that they could include it on their website.
someone please more this thread to water cooler…
For those of you interested in this, “Somm” on Netflix is a ~90 minute documentary on a group of guys studying for the Master Sommelier Exam - shit’s fascinating and everything quoted by itera is accurate based on that documentary.
Some of those guys study much longer than 300 hours x 3 for that thing…
I don’t care what Google says, these tests are hard but not *that* hard.
You’ll know a hard test when the pass rate is under 20%